The Son and Daughters of The Demon
by IAmMattis
Summary: One of the powerful siblings in the Criminal Underworld, will fight the battle of their lives that will change them both psychically and emotionally as they face their ultimate nemesis. takes place in The Arrow post 2x10. OC/Oracle and Bruce/Talia.
1. Prologue

Chapter 1  
**AN: This idea came to mind while I was working on my Arkham Origins Story, i didnt explore the bonding of the Al Ghuls well, so i want to exploit that with Nyssa from the Arrow and of course with Sara. So, this is my attempt of doing so.**

* * *

In an isolated room, three people were standing against their backs in a spotlight shining on them. A young man, who was in mid 20's, had short black hair with green eyes. He was wearing a long leather coat with blue jeans and Timberland shoes. He held a samurai sword on one hand and a set of metal claws coming out between his knuckles. One of the two women was light brown haired woman in a black leather outfit holding a katana sword The second female was in late 20s, long black hair, he had a very unique suit that separate her from the most of the assassin all in black and the shoulder pads were crimson red. She carried a quiver on her back filled with black arrows.

"I'm not your buddy. I'm an assassin." He began looking up as if there was an audience. "I used to be a regular guy like you, had a pretty normal childhood. Well, that was the case until my mom died, so I traveled to Siberia and was trained by my father to kill, to adapt any martial art form. But then I ran away for reasons I rather keep it private and now consider me as a vigilante. If you dare to attack me or my family, I will show you no mercy or remorse because its runs in the family. its in our nature. My name is Jericho Al Ghul. The Son of Ra's Al Ghul" He roared loudly like an animal and then the spotlight came to to the leather wearing woman

"For many years, my father used me as a pawn in many of his endless schemes." she told, "I always believed it was for the greater cause until i was murdered by the joker in Arkham City. But Fate intervened in form of my brother who brought me back to life. he gave me a chance to redeem myself and to be free from my father's manipulations. I may not undo the crimes I committed in the past but i'm trying to save as many lives as i can. It will be diffcult but as long as i have my beloved and brother on my side, I can achieve my redemption. My name is Talia Al Ghul. The Second Daughter of the Demon." then the spotlight switched to the woman who carried a quiver on her back.

"Emotion. My father once told me when i was a child, our emotions is what make us vulnerable, weak. it clouds our judgements which in the end, it hurts us. i made that mistake when i met Sara. I saved her and with the help of my siblings, i nursed her back to health, trained her to be an assassin and i fell in love with her. but that's whenI let my guard down and she betrayed me by leaving me under the cover of darkness. never again will i allow my emotions to cloud my judgement or let my guard down. I will continue my father's legacy by cleansing the planet from apathy, greed and corruption. my name is Nyssa, the First Daughter of Ra's Al Ghul."

* * *

_"__How the hell did I get into this mess?"_ Jericho thought to himself as he forced injected the cure into a enchanced thug in the tunnel of the city known as Starling City that is now abandoned due to an army invasion created of Deathstroke. He and a team of vigilantes that included his sisters, Talia, Nyssa, his former comrade Sara, Batman and The Arrow were fighting off some of Mirakuru enchanced soldiers of Slade. He felt something was coming behind him and turned around raising his right claw to block a sword attack. he didnt need a guess as he recognized the orange and black masked wearing woman and got a painful reminder of why he was here. it was Isabel Rochev, former CEO of the Queen Consolidated and the Co founder of Project Wolverine. The other Co founder was a ex assassin Paul Reynolds who was disowned by Ra's for his aggressive nature but that's another story for another time.

_"Oh Yeah, that's why."_ Jericho thought, he blocked her attacks and then counter attacked with his claws which left a mark on her jacket and her mask. She saw an opening and did a forward with her dual swords. But Jericho blocked them with his left claw and then they stared at each other in a standoff.

"I knew you were a liability the moment you returned from the dead, you son of a bitch." Isabel spat,

"Sweetheart, I'm one of the kind." He fired back, he pushed her off and they circled each other expecting one and other to make a move. How did this happen? well,if you really want to know of how it all came to this, it all started with a dream.

* * *

**A few months back in Gotham Church:** "Do _you Jericho Brown take Barbara Gordon as your beloved wife?" The priest asked Jericho at the altar in a churchwhere their wedding was taking place. Bruce, Tim and Shawn was on his side presenting the grooms while Talia and Barbara's mother Elieen were on the other as bridemaids. her father Jim Gordon was at the front row._

_He was in a black tuxedo with a black tie, Barbara hada Vera Wang Dress with a veil on her head. She looked remarkable. they've just read their vows and now it was time for the final part._

_The mention of her name and wife in same sentence made him cheer mentally in his head. god, he waited so long to hear those words but he kept himself calm and collective._

_"I do." he answered, putting her a claddagh ring on her ring finger. _

_"Do you Barbara Gordon take Jericho Brown as your beloved husband?" the priest repeated the question,_

_"I do." she replied repeating the same gesture while staring into his green eyes. she put her ring on his ring finger  
_

_"Then I'll now pronounce you as husband and wife." the priest declared, he turned to Jericho "You may kiss the bride." Jericho kneeled down and lifted up the veil to see her angelic face. as he was about to kiss her, a squishing sound was heard and the blood started to pour from his mouth. He's been stabbed in the back by a sword piercing through his chest. He turned around to see who his attacker was and it was no other than Ra's Al Ghul, his estranged father_

_"Greetings, son." Ra's sneered clasping his hand around his throat._

* * *

Jericho woke up with a start in his bedroom in the middle of the night. he panted heavily while still reeling from the horrenous nightmare. Never, ever again will he live through a dream like that. he will not let his fathers sprit be a mark of his days as an assassin, he's not like him. he ran his hand through his hair and then went back to sleep but for the rest of night it felt like he was sleeping in a deep cloud.

* * *

**AN: So, did you like it? If so, let me know and what did I do wrong here? Remember this is one shot.**


	2. Humanitarian Of The Year

Chapter 1

Humanitarian of the Year

**AN: And as promised, here is the first chapter of TSADOTD. Beneath the Author's quote is the quote of one of the best episodes of Batman animated series to date. I'm gonna use some points of the plot of BAA DLC Cold Cold Heart which is actually based on Heart of Ice. Now Enjoy the chapter. **

_"This is how I shall always remember you: surrounded by winter, forever young, forever beautiful. Rest well, my love. The monster who took you from me will soon learn that revenge is a dish... best served COLD." _**Michael Ansara as Mr Freeze from Heart of**** Ice, Batman Animated Series**

* * *

"Phew, that was close." Mike sighed in relief as he loaded the cryo tube into the truck, they just done a job of retrieving a body from Gotham General. The job was from an anonymous source that wouldn't give his name but he promised by the

"Tell me about it." Jerry agreed as Mike started the engine and got the hell out of there "We barley passed the security guards. But we got the job done. I better call it now." his friend pulled out his cellphone and dialed the number, after a few minutes the caller picked up the call, "We got the package. Repeat, we got the package."

_"__Terrific. And as promised, a check of 30 000 dollar will arrive shortly at your location when you exchange the body."_ The caller declared pleased of their work. he then told the location, he hung up on them.

"Mr. Boyle, Mr. Wayne is here to see you." A redheaded woman in early 20's said, he put away his phone and addressed his secretary.

"Send them in, Mandy." He said, Mandy nodded in acknowledgement as she left his office. He plasted on a fake smile when he saw Bruce Wayne coming in, "Bruce! It is so nice to see you."

* * *

**Three days later**

Jericho was sitting in his secluded room at his apartment looking into his computer for any activates or events that has happened all over the world. Since the The Battle of Blackgate as news called, things crime rate is at its lowest for the very first time. The population had never ever felt safe in a very long time and that's saying something. Back then when the city was named the most corrupted capital in the US with the highest crime rate, the motto was "_don't call 911, just bribe them" _and you can't even go out of your house for 5 minutes without being mugged, kidnapped or worse. But that was then and this is now and things are looking brighter. he looked past the window to see the moon glowing at its finest.

_"Do you know why the moon is lonely?" Jericho asked as he, his sisters and Sara watched the moon shining in Nanda Parbat, Nyssa had her arms wrapped around Sara's waist while glancing up to the moon._

_"No. Why?" Sara asked, curious along with his sisters._

_"Well, apparently the moon had a lover, Keehcajoo, they would wander the skies together. But one of the sprits, the trickster was jealous because he wanted the Moon for himself. so the trickster suggested Keehcajoo that would come to our world and pick her some wild roses."_

_"Never trust a guy named a trickster." Sara chimed in, Jericho punched her arm playfully and Sara returned the favor._

_"Anyhow, what he didn't realize was once you leave the sprit world, you can't never go back. And every night he looks up to the moon and howls her name doomed to live among the mortals for all eternity."_

_"So long story short, Koo-koo-ka-choo got screwed." Sara summed it up while trying to pronounce the name Jericho smirked a bit while shaking his head._

_Keehcajoo." he corrected, "The Wolverine."_

* * *

_"_What you're doing?" Barb asked as she entered the room and rolled to his left side.

"Just reading some news across the globe." Jericho answered, turning the computer off and gave her a peck on the lips "You?"

"I just got a call from Bruce. He invited us to the Wayne Foundation humanitarian of year party in Starling City." she told him,

"Right, Ferris Boyle is getting the award for being _the man of the people._" he scoffed in disbelief, "Please, he's not a man of the people, he's a fraud." There was no denial that Jericho disliked Ferris Boyle for many reasons. One, for being dishonest, two: being a hypocrite. Three: A sociopath who has no empathy whatsoever. He was born and raised in Starling City but moved to Gotham and started Gothcorp. He created an image of Gothcorp that represent the people and are compassionate about cleaning Gotham up from corruption and crime when in truth, it's just a façade for many illegal weapon manufacturing operations. He's been suspected in many of cases although not bought in for questioning because the evidence was not substantial and the witnesses either ends up dead or disappear without a trace. So the fact that he's been elected to be the Humanitarian of the year makes Jericho even more suspicious of his motives.

"Look, I know that you don't like Ferris but please don't anything embarrassing on the party." Barbara said with a sigh,

"You're right." Jericho agreed, "Which is why I'm not going."

Barbara sighed again while rubbing her forehead, this was gonna be harder than she tought "I get it. You don't like going to parties and frankly so do I but maybe this time it will be different. Who knows? Just please consider it." she gave him a pout while . Jericho kept a stern look as if he knew what she was trying to do.

"No." he told her,

"Fine." she huffed in defeat as she was about to leave him but then she got a brilliant idea of how to lure him in, "By the way, Talia is going to be there and she would be very sad if she knew that her brother wouldn't be there."

A look of fear etched on his face at the mention of Talia, Barb wouldn't dare,"But… she wouldn't stop bugging me. Come on…" he tried to plead his way out of the predicament but Barbara had a stern look and an raised eyebrow on replicating Jericho's look earlier and in that moment, Jericho was beaten.

"Crap." He muttered crossing arms in defeat, looks like he was going to the party after all, "Fine. I'll go. When do we leave?"

* * *

Bruce stepped out of the Elevator of Queen's Consolidated buliding, it's been awhile since he was here of course, the last time he was here it was a few days prior before the late Robert Queen stepped on Queen's Gambit with his son Oliver Queen and Sara Lance. He walked towards a desk where a woman in her mid 20's with bleached blonde hair and a pair of glasses was doing some paper work. he cleared his throat and the woman looked up to him.

"How may I be help you?" she asked nervously as he noticed her cheeks turned red, he offered a genuine smile

"Hi, I'm here to see Moira Queen." He said,

"OH uh, Mrs. Queen is unavailable." Mr…?"

"Wayne. Bruce Wayne, Wayne Enterprises." He introduced, her eyes were on the edge of bulging out of her sockets.  
No freaking way is that Bruce Wayne. the Gotham playboy Billionaire? Wow, TV doesn't do that man justice.

* * *

"You want me to go to what?" Oliver asked her mother Moira Queen in his office as he tired to wrap his mind of what his mom just told him, her mother had just started her campaign for mayor after her release from Iron Heights prison thanks to persuasion from Walter Steele, her ex husband and her children's former step father. And To say that this news came a bit of a surprise was bit of an understatement.

"To a event hosted by Bruce Wayne tonight. Ferris Boyle had been selected to be the Humanitarian of the year by the board of the Wayne Foundation." The Queen family was no strangers to the Wayne family. Robert Queen had worked with Bruce in the past one some projects before the company started their own science department and the Gambit incident that took Robert's life and captain's life. So when Moira was sentenced for her involvement in the Glades Earthquake, Bruce was the first person to call to.

"And why does this to do with us?" Oliver asked,

"Well, Ferris was a native here from our beloved city but he moved to Gotham due to some financial issues and he started Gothcorp which blossomed to a multi million dollar company. He has a main office here and in Gotham." She explained,

"Mom, in case you've forgotten, our family does not have a good track record when it comes to charity events or parties." Oliver reminded his mother bitterly and that was true. But Moira continued to encourage Oliver to go with her.

"I know, Oliver. But try to behave this time. This family has been through enough as it is."

"Fine, Mom." Oliver sighed in resignation, seeing of no point of arguing any further, she smiled in relief, "Anything else?"

"No, that would be all, dear." She shook her head no, just then Oliver's secretary Felicity Smoak allowed herself to come in with a knock for an urging matter.

"Sorry to intrude but ah…Mr. Wayne is here." she told them and on cue Bruce Wayne, billionare playboy from Gotham entered the office as Felicity went to exit.

"Hello, Bruce. I'm so glad that you could come." She greeted with a kind smile, "I never thanked you for your support during my trial."

"My pleasure, Moira." He returned the smile kindly, "And I'm sorry if I haven't come and see you after…."

"I understand." She nodded in understanding, and then she noticed that Oliver was still here. "Bruce, you know my son Oliver." The men shook their hands firmly. "So, you'll be attending Wayne Foundation Humanitarian of the year ball?"

"Yes, I will along with my fiancé and some of my acquaintances." That seemed to surprise Moira a little given her knowledge of his reputation as a billionaire playbiy "I'll take it you'll be there too?"

"Yes with Oliver and my daughter Thea." She answered, "So you're engaged? Who's the woman that's fortunate to date you?"

"It's a long story." He replied, that wasn't a lie considering the circumstances.

"I'm sure it's a good story." Moira replied, just then the other CEO Isabel Rochev came in.

"The infamous Billionaire playboy is engaged. Make that for the headline news." she drawled,

"Bruce, I'll like you to meet the CO CEO, Isabel Rochev." Moira introduced, her smile faltered a bit when Isabel came into the office, just as things were going so great.

"Как это Готэм лечения вы до сих пор, мистер. Уэйн." (How's Gotham treating you, Mr. Wayne?)

"о вы ожидаете, преступность и коррупция в его самом прекрасном." (About you'd expect, crime and corruption at its finest.)

"What did they say son?" Moira asked her son not understanding what they were saying but she knew that they were talking in Russian.

"Nothing important, mom." he replied, this just turned a bit interesting.

* * *

"Ok, so now that Bruce is at the QC, what do we know about the family?" Jericho asked, he and Barb decided to hit the town and let's just say that Starling City was kinda different from Gotham. Sure it has crime and corruption but it wasn't that bad as Gotham is or was... but also the Hood who appeared a last year after Oliver Queen, the billionaire playboy was found alive after spending five years on a secluded island in south of China. So being the world's greatest detective that Bruce is, he put two and two together. They visited the Starling City aquarium and were amazed by the sea creatures that resided there. then they visited the Bisque Museum.

"Well, aside from being one of the richest families in the country, they have a long history of breaking the law on several occasions. Oliver Queen was arrested four times for DUI, assaulting paparazzi, stealing a taxi and urinating a police officer." She grimaced the last part,

"How in the hell did he do that?" Jericho asked in disbelief,

"Well, let's just say that when I read the report, it involved a lot of alcohol an I mean _a lot." _Barbara explained "and of course when he was accused of being the Hood. as for Thea, she was arrested for public intoxication, breaking and entering and was recently in a car crash. The police found traces of narcotics in her blood system and then she was arrested and sentenced to community service at a law firm."

"Huh. At least she wasn't sent to prison." He commented, "What about their mother?"

"Oh, I was just getting to that and trust me, she _was_ sent to prison for conspiracy to murder and involvement of the Glades earthquake which leveled the east sector. It took 503 lives that day including the Merlyn family. but the most disturbing part was Malcolm Merlyn had an affair with Moira Queen"

"Which was revealed on her trial. But despite that, she somehow was declared not guilty on her trial and now she's running for mayor." He finished, rubbing his chin in deep thought, "That's bit fishy don't you think?

"Exactly, someone must've bribed the judge because the evidence was pretty solid. She was looking to life in prison. Whoever did it, must've had deep pockets."

"Yeah." He chuckled, "So, any plans to our upcoming wedding as of late?"

"What?" she asked confused before catching on, To be honest, she hadn't planned at all, not after everything that has happened on the holidays, "Oh, No. Not exactly, I've been kinda busy with stuff."

"Is it about Dick?" he questioned, he wasn't dumb, he knows about her relationship with Dick, Bruce's adoptive son and how badly it ended when they broke their engagement.

"A part of it." she admitted, ducking her head away, it wasn't a total lie. Just that she doesn't want a relapse of Dick Grayson whom she loved dearly, a constant reminder of who she once was. She won't admit it, but she's afraid that eventually he'll be just like Dick. Isolate himself from the ones he cares about. "Can we not talk about it now? I just want to enjoy this moment." he nodded in agreement dropping the subject as he drank his coffee. she knew that they would talk about this later.

Little did they know that someone was watching the whole thing from a distance, he had a black trench coat with hat and sunglasses. He took out his cellphone and pressed on speed dial for a call.

"Hey, it's me. I got some news. The subject is here. I repeat, the test subject for Project Wolverine is here in Starling City." he reported

_"__Perfect. I'll inform miss Rochev about this. Excellent work." _the caller complimented and then he ended and left somewhat satisfied.

* * *

_"Brother! I'm in need of your assistance." Nyssa called as she ran up with an unconscious blonde woman to the training room of their headquarters in Nanda Parbat where Jericho was learning the newest members the art of jujitsu when he heard Nyssa. He asked one of the experienced comrades to take care of his class and quickly ran up to her._

_"What's going on?" he asked and the looked at the woman in Nyssa's arms, she was bleeding badly, a large gash on her forehead "Who's this?"_

_"I found her at the seashore. She's barley breathing." Nyssa explained There's still time to save her. prepare the Pit."_

_"But Nyssa, we can't use it to save an outsider. You'll violate the rules." He scolded,_

_"Please, brother, she doesn't have much time left." Nyssa insisted,_

_"Nyssa. Father will hear this and he will be not pleased." he stated,_

_"I don't care. I got to save her." _

_"fine, come with me." he relented, he led them back to their headquarters._

* * *

Jericho's cellphone ringed as he and Barb were back in their hotel room at Starling City Plaza Hotel.

"Yeah." He answered, "OH hi Bruce. How did it go? Really? Ok." He then rolled his eyes at what Bruce told him to wear Yeah, I'll wear a suit tonight. Alright, see you tonight." He then ended the call and put his phone back into his pocket. He glanced at Barb who had a inquiring look on her face, "He didn't get much answers regarding the Undertaking nor why she was found not guilty but she admitted her affair with Malcolm. So that's somethin' to start "

"Yeah." She murmured, it was a bit disappointing really because she would really love to get the details. Blame the detective side of her personality. "So what now? we have about three hours before the Ball tonight."

"Well, we can do enough." He shrugged with a suggestively grin on his face.

"No. NO." she shook her as she backed away as if she knew what he's up to,

"Oh yes." He walked slowly towards her like a predator ready to attack its prey. She squealed as he scooped her up from her wheelchair and carried her to the bed.

"Jericho, put me down." She yelled in laughter

"No. Stop fighting me, woman." He commanded,

* * *

_Jericho led Nyssa to the Lazarus Pit who was still carrying the mysterious blonde hair. The guards were taking a break so they had to do it quickly before their return._

_"We don't have much time. Make it quick." He commanded, Nyssa nodded in acknowledgement as she stepped into pit with the blonde woman. She released her body letting it sink into the pit for a good few minutes before the woman gasped rising up from the pit with eyes that were completely white without no irises for a split second before returning to blue eyes. Nyssa grabbed her by the waist in an attempt to prevent her from falling into the pit again as she passed out again, Jericho went down to the pit and grabbed the woman's legs helping Nyssa out._

* * *

"People caring for people. Compassion. That's the foundation that I proudly built Gothcorp on and that is why we're called the People company." Ferris Boyle was having the speech of acceptance as he was standing on a podium holding an award where the crowd was applauding to what he was saying much to the disgust of Jericho who was at the bar drinking scotch, his ego was skyrocketing right by now. The crowd was the crème de la crème of the influential people, like Queen Family with Matriarch Moira and the mayor candidate Sebastian Blood. The Co CEO of Queen Consolidated and , Isabel Rochev was standing next to him in a red glittering dress with black high heels while Blood was in a black tuxedo.

"So is it true? The Subject For project Wolverine is here in Starling City?" Sebastian asked,

"Yes. One of the informants spotted him in café downtown." She confirmed, "We're one step closer to our goal."

"I hope so. My patience is running the . The past subjects all died of cardiac arrest or metal poison of adamanitum because of the wolverine formula falied to process. This is our last shot."

"I know, but Slade told me back at Blackgate, this one is different." She assured, "and I take his word for it."

Barbara came to him after talking to some people that weren't interesting. She wore a green dress.

"So, drinking alone here mister?" she asked,

"Maybe." He replied, "Can I get you a glass of champagne?"

"Well, since you asked so nicely." She obliged, he signaled one of the waiters for champagne. He took two glasses of it and handed one to Barbara.

"Thank you." She thanked him taking the glass. They tapped their glasses and took a sip. "So, where's Bruce and Talia?" she questioned

"They're out in the crowds, congratulating You-Know-Who." He answered with distain

"Still don't like him, do you?" she stated,

"Nope but look at the bright side. I haven't done anything stupid that would ruin the party ." He replied,

"That's a something." She agreed, "So What now?"

"Right now, I want you to tell me about Oliver Queen's bodyguard John Diggle and his secretary Felicity Smoak." At the questioning look he got from Barb he told her the reason. "Bruce wanted me to do a background check up on them. Here" he handed her his IPhone from his pocket and immediately, she went to check info on Diggle first.

"Alright, John Diggle born in 1978. Former Army soldier, spent three tours in Afghanistan and some time in special forces. Married once with Lyla Michaels, a fellow soldier but they divorced due to a fallout back home."

"And now he serves as a bodyguard for one of the richest families in the country." He stated,

"In a way, his late brother Andy was a bodyguard too. He was killed in duty by poison laced bullets. The police never found the killer though and soon the case became cold. He left behind a son and his wife Carly."

"That's rough." He said,

"No kidding." She replied, shaking her head sympathetic

"Now… what about Felicity?" he questioned,

"Let's see.." Barbara went to google her name on wifi and instantly got a hit. She went on to read the biography.

"Felicity Meghan Smoak, born in Vegas 88, her father abandoned her and mother who was waitress at a young age. Top of her class at MIT. Worked as an IT Support at the Queen Consolidated before becoming Executive assistant of Oliver Queen." She informed

"Pretty impressive. Kinda like you actually minus the abandoning father who is the police commissioner ." He said,

"You know what, I was thinking the same thing." she declared in agreement, then she looked at the time at his cellphone,"Oh shout, it's almost midnight. Come on." she nudged him to follow her as a female hostess came to the podium where Ferris was talking to the press regarding about his plans for the future.

"Now it's almost midnight and you all know what that means." The hostess declared, "it's time start this new year with a…" suddenly she started to feel cold so she rubbed her arms as she breathed out a icy fog. Soon everyone was feeling cold.

"Forgetting to pay the heating bill?" she joked meekly and then chaos erupted in form of an ice wall freezing the hostess and some from crowd as the crowd backed away when a group of armed thugs stepped out of a hole that was in middle of the ice wall.

"Happy New Year, everybody!" one of the men yelled, firing a round from his rifle. Then a bald man in a mechanical suit stepped out of the hole and fired from his cryotech gun. He stopped by a person who had his leg stuck in ice. He tried to get his leg out as fast as possible but the man backhanded him flying over the stage and used his icegun to freeze the man along with a few others. It was Mr. Freeze.

"Bring me Ferris Boyle." He demanded, Bruce and Talia left the crowd in a hurry along with Jericho and Barb outside to suit up. There is no quiet night apparently in Starling City.

* * *

"These Penguin's men. What the hell are they doing here and why are they working with Freeze?" Barbara asked as they headed down to the parking lot, they turned left and went to their limo where their suits were in the trunk.

"Three good questions, darlin'. We're about to find out." Jericho said, "Got our suits, Bruce?"

"Always." He confirmed, opening the trunk to reveal three sets of suits. Time to go to work.

* * *

"Oliver, who the hell are these guys? They're not like I've seen before" John asked as he and Oliver snuck unnoticed by Penguin's men to the backdoor.

"I'm not sure. But they're being led by someone in a mechanized suit. I need to find Ferris before they do." Oliver stated,

"Well, you're no good to us dressed like that. Better put on your other suit before this place turns into a freaking ice Age." He advised,

"I know, get these people to safety." Oliver instructed as he took off, John nodded in acknowledgement as he went back.

* * *

"Hey! Move it!" one of the men that invaded the award com ordered Thea and Moira to move along . but they didn't budge so he roughly grabbed Thea's arm.

"Thea!"

"Get off of me." She warned, she bit his hand hard which caused him to yelp in surprise. He shook his hand back and forth to get rid of the pain

"You spoiled brat, you'll regret that." he spat as he was about to slap her face but his hand was caught and he turned around to see a man in a black kevlar suit with a bat sign on his chest. He wore a black cowl with pointy ears that covered the upper half of his face leaving his mouth open.

"Don't." he warned in a threating tone, the thug gulped in fear fully aware of who he is. It was the last person he'd expect to see here.

"Batman!" he yelled to alert the others, Batman hit him with his own hand before twisting his arm behind him, the thug bent over in pain allowing Batman to knee him in the face.

"Go." He ordered, Thea and Moira got the heck out of there as Batman blocked an attempting kick from behind, he elbowed his attacker and rammed his head into his knee. He spin kicked third thug almost taking his head off.

"What the hell are you waitin' for? A invitation?!" another Penguin henchmen exclaimed in disbelief to the rest of them, "Kick the Bat's ass!" they did as they were told but then the were hit with kicks to their chests by a woman wearing a black leather outfit with black boots. She flipped over and landed on her feet with one hand on the floor as the two men landed with a thud. She rose up as more of Penguin's men surrounded her. She ducked a punch and quick jabbed him. Talia caught an upcoming kick, kicking his thigh and punched him. she then roundhouse kicked a fourth thug. She went on to jump midair and split kicked two more in the face at the same time.

"Come on, stay still for a moment." Another henchmen aimed his rifle at Talia who was beating most of his friends but he couldn't get a steady shot at her.

"I don't think so, junior." Jericho spoke as he grappled the armed thug and went for an inverted DDT. He went on to thrust kick another man and spin kicked him off his feet.

He back kicked the last one in the groin who tried to sneak up on him. he joined batman and Talia once penguin's men was taken care of.  
"Oracle, can you hear us?" Batman asked as he pressed into earpiece of his cowl.

_"__Loud and clear."_

"Have you found Ferris?" he questioned,

_"__Yep, I've hacked into the security cameras. Ferris is on the lower level, grand hallway. But you better hurry. Penguin's men is holding him hostage"_

"Thanks, we'll be in touch." He replied as they left the room. They went down the stairs to the elevator where they spotted more of penguin's thug, they needed to get to Ferris before Mr. Freeze does so they disposed of the thugs quickly. they continued down to the grand hallway where they spotted Penguin's men beating the crap of Ferris Boyle.

They were taking turns of beating Boyle who was put in a full nelson lock by a big brute with a beard.

Thinking fast, Jericho pulled out his remote claw and fired at a fire extinguisher to hit one of the thugs momentarily blinding them. That allowed Ferris to get away from them and Batman to strike first. A fight broke out and and in a few minutes, once the smoke cleared out Talia, Batman and Jericho were the ones standing over knocked out penguin thugs.  
"We're gonna get you out here." Jericho said,

"I think not." Mr Freeze begged to differ as he arrived from the other side of the hallway and froze three of them with his cryogenic gun. Ferris Boyle had a look of disbelief when he recognized Mr Freeze and his face went a bit pale.

"I have no quarrels with the three of you." he said,

"You crashed into the wrong party." Batman declared

"Fries?" he whispered as Mr. Freeze walked past the vigilantes and picked him up, Jericho wondered if there's any history between Freeze and Boyle because if they had history, as he struggled to break free from the thick ice. "What do you want with me?"

"Just require a moment of your time." Freeze replied as he took him away but suddenly his mechanic suit was hit by an arrow on his back.

"Let him go." Man in his late 20's was in a dark green outfit that had long sleeves with gloves. He had a metallic bow and arrow on his quiver. He had a mask that covered his eyes along with a hood. Freeze fired from his freeze gun and the hooded man avoided it just barley and fired another arrow, this time though Freeze froze it in mid air. But it allowed Freeze to escape with Ferris Boyle. Jericho finally broke free of ice, Batman and Talia not along after.

"You must be The Hood." Jericho declared,

"You must be Jericho." Arrow countered, lowering his bow down "I've heard about you."

"Did you huh?" Jericho asked, "Well, as much as I love to sign you an autograph, we got business to take care of."

"What about Freeze?" The Hood questioned,

"He's our. You focus on Ferris, we'll handle the rest." Batman replied not giving the Arrow a chance to have a say as they took off. But they stopped in front of the doors as it was covered in thick ice. It's frozen shut. One of Penguin's men must've gotten access to Freeze's ice guns. That can be problematic.

"Oracle. We found Ferris." Jericho reported as he tapped into his earpiece to inform Barb.

_"__Great, did you save him?"_

"There were complications. Freeze got to him first before we did and now one of Penguin's men got his hands on some of his obtained cryogenic weapons. The door in front of us is frozen shut" Jericho informed,

_"__That's not good. the weapons are the latest in cryogenic technology if Freeze gave it to them willingly, that means…"_

"Let's not get a head of ourselves Oracle. Besides, we won't let them. Freeze is heading towards the main entrance. I'll get back to you when we found him." He replied as they went to the wall shaft. Jericho ripped it open before crawling into the ventilation. He wondered why Victor would team up with Cobblepot considering what happened in Arkham City, when Penguin kidnapped Freeze and tortured him for fun while using his ice gun for amusement. And why would he take Ferris Boyle? There's more than a simple kidnapping. He beat the grate away before jumping down out of the ventilation shaft. Batman and Talia came out of there and The door that was frozen to the main entrance exploded, sending the door away. The Hood stepped out of the hole with his bow raised.

"You gotta be kidding me." Jericho mumbled shaking his head, he would wonder later about how did the Hood just do that when there are more important issues. They spotted MR Freeze getting into a van with Ferris and they took off. damn, they'd just missed them. some of the Penguin henchmen stayed behind to ensure that they would put some road blocks for the vigilantes and one of them was equipped with a cryogenic gun, Barbara's fear had come to fruition.

_"__Damnit. We just missed them. One of Penguin's men must know where that van goes." _Jericho thought as he pulled out his handgun and shot the cryo tank, making it leak cold fluid.

"Get them!" one of the men spotted Jericho charging, he landed a punch and ducked two blows as he gave the two of them stereo blows to stomach before uppercut. He kicked another guy in the chest twice before jumping on his back, breaking the vertebrae. The henchmen tried to freeze but his ice gun didn't work due to malfunction. The thug cried in extreme pain as Jericho approached he last remaining henchmen who dropped the ice gun and raised his hands in surrender.

Jericho pushed him against the wall for interrogation while Batman and Talia along with the Hood walked past the knocked out henchmen.

"Where is he taking Ferris?" Jericho questioned,

"I… I don't know, I promise!" he lied and Jericho saw it through, that whimp knows some valuable information.

"Do you have any idea how many of your friends I sent to the hospital on Christmas?!" he threatened and like all others he eventually caved not wanting to end up with a broken back like his friend.

"One of Penguin's dealer. He's doling out the weapons Freeze gave us. He must know. We were supposed to meet in Orchid Bay." He revealed,

"You can meet up in the emergency room, instead." Jericho said and then head butted the henchmen out cold.

"Let's go. It won't be long before SCPD shows up and they won't not be friendly to us as GCPD are." Batman stated as he heard the police sirens from a distance.

"I agree, beloved." Talia obeliged, "Although you must admit, GCPD weren't your allies at one point, so it's hardly a surprise."

"True." Batman agreed as they took out their grapple guns and grappled on a ledge of a nearby building exiting center stage.

"And here I thought I was the _original."_ The Hood commented. He had a feeling that this won't be the last time he would be seeing them and he would proven to be right on the money. But Right now, he wants Felicity to dig up info about Mr. Freeze.

* * *

_Sara stirred as she opened her eyes to see that she wasn't in the Amazo, all she remembered was that a missile hit the Amazo, then she was separated from Oliver during the blast and nothing. _

_She was lying in a small but comfortable bed and she wasn't wearing her clothes, she looked at her body to see if she sustained any injuries and surprisingly there were none. What happened when she was unconscious?_

_"__I see you're awake." She turned around to see a woman in red garment clothing with dark black hair with olive skin. She had brown eyes with a voice smooth as silk. Startled by the presence, Sara pushed her back against the headboard in panic feeling that "Please do not fret, I do not wish you any harm." She spoke with a calm and sincere voice._

_"__Where am I?" Sara asked cautiously as she slowly realized the woman wasn't going to hurt her or do anything bad. She reminded Sara of Shado, with her dark hair, olive skin and the brown chocolate eyes._

_"__Nanda Parbat. Tibet." Nyssa told her,_

_"__I'm in Tibet?" she asked in disbelief, Nyssa nodded in confirmation. Yeah, she's not in Kansas anymore. Sara took a moment to process the new info._

_"__So the sleeping beauty is finally awake." A man declared as he dropped by her room, he was tall, short black hair with a pair of crystal green eyes he wore some sort of a outfit that resembled a monk. He was very attractive. "I'm Jericho, her brother. I see you've met Nyssa."_

_"__Sara. My name is Sara." She told her, "Where did you find me?" _

_ "I found you on the beach. You were in critical condition so we had to use the Lazarus."_

_"Lazarus?" she questioned not following her, What is Lazarus?_

_"__Long story. But neverless, we saved you." He replied, then she got from bed and hugged Nyssa out of appreciation. Nyssa was surprised by the gesture but slowly wrapped around her waist._

_"__Thank you." Sara whispered into her ear and in that moment, something in the back of her mind told her this was just the beginning._

* * *

**And there you have it, the first chapter. I hope I did good.  
Let me know what you think of this chapter.**


	3. Gothcorp

Chapter 2

Gothcorp.

**AN: Thank you for your support, I didn't expect the reception that I got from the first chapter. But i am grateful for it, keep it up. I'm currently doing some fanarts for this story. check out on my tumblr page. matuselaratedr.**

_"Look, Bruce. That** People Company** line is great PR, but when the wage slaves start acting like they own the place, it's time to pull the plug." Mark Hamill as Ferris Boyle in Heart Of Ice, Batman: The Animated Series._

* * *

_"Again!" Talia said as Sara went down to the ground face first. She was under training of becoming a member of the League of Assassins a couple of months later. It didn't take long for Ra to find out about Sara, he demanded Nyssa to tell where she did found the outsider, She told her father about the ship wreckage and her name. She also told him that Sara was on the ship called Amazo that was hit with a missile, but other than that, Sara was very secretive of where she came from. He then warned Nyssa about her compassion being a weakness and this will be only time that she let her guard down. Being the loyal daughter that she is, she obliged to the warning._

_Nyssa was observing her with fascination as Sara got back on her feet and continued on her training. She is like a canary, a black canary to be exact; dangerous and mystical but beautiful and enchanting._

_"Stalker much?" Jericho said as he appeared by her side, interrupting her thoughts, "I thought you would be lectured by our dad."_

_"He warned me about compassion. That it is a sign of weakness." she told her brother,_

_He scoffed knowingly, "You got off easy." It meant that he didn't punish Nyssa, which wasn't a surprise. She was the golden child of the three. Always has. Then he noticed her watching Sara in combat training with Talia. He chuckled with a grin on his face, "You like her, don't you? Like watching her?"_

_"That is ridiculous, brother." She said, giving him a doubtful look "Why would I have a affection on a outsider? Beside, we aren't allowed to express our feelings. We're supposed to be merciless for our enemies"_

_"I'm not saying that as a bad thing." He held out his hands in defense, "I'm just pointing out a fact. I don't blame you, she's a very attractive woman."_

_"Brother, please." She pleaded with a stern tone as if she said this conversation is over, they will not discuss this matter any further. Jericho sighed in resignation feeling that he hit a nerve so he dropped the subject for now._

_"Alright. Whatever you say." He replied as he left her side but stopped as he gave his sister a piece of advice "Whatever feelings you have for her, it's completely natural. The question is how you are going to do with those feelings. My advice is to go for it." he left hoping that Nyssa took it under consideration and much to his delight she did as time._

_"You did well, Sara." Talia observed as they ended their training session, Sara was feeling sore through her entire body, she went through extreme trainings that tested her physically and mentally. she spotted a middle aged man with worn out clothes locked up in a bamboon cage._

_"Who is he?" Sara equipped,_

_"He was a farmer. He tried to take his neighbor's land and became a murder." Talia answered following her glance towards the prisoner with no sympathy whatsoever, "Now he's a prisoner."_

_"What will happen to him?" she asked_

_"Justice. Crimes can't be tolerated. Criminals thrive on the indulgence of Society's understanding." Talia adressed, "Come, we shall head to the washrooms."_

* * *

"Batman? Really? Batman?" Officer Lance questioned Moira skeptically back at the ballroom where some of the guest were questioned of what just took place and Moira of course was giving Officer Quentin her statement about a man who dressed like a bat, saved her daughter and of course this Mr. Freeze as the criminals called him. Batman and Mr. Freeze? Jesus, he really doesn't recognize this town anyone.

"Yep. That's that thug said. If wasn't for him, who knows what they would've done to Thea." She answered, "Is it so hard to believe, Officer Lance?" There had been some clashes between Lance and the Queen matriarch in past, mainly Lance put the blame for Sara's supposed death on Oliver Queen. Not to mention the accusation on her son Oliver as The Hood although he has been cleared. so there's some bad blood between them  
He sighed, not wanting to start up a argument, if there's a guy named the hood running around these streets, why can't be a Batman.

"No, I guess not." He then left putting his notebook away.

"You alright, Speedy?" Oliver asked out of concern of for his sister, He was back in black suit once he called Felicity to do some research on Mr. Freeze and the connection to Ferris Boyle. he also wanted to learn more about someone named the Penguin.

"I will be, Ollie. She admitted, "Gotta admit though, looks like the Hood has got some competition."

"Yeah. Why in the world would anybody call himself Batman?" Oliver joked, "I mean, that's a bit dusky?" she chuckled at the lame joke from her big brother, "You can go home now if you want to." she nodded in agreement and she left just in time for his phone to ring. He went to check out the Caller ID and it was Felicity.

"Yeah." he answered putting his phone into his ear

_"I got the load on Ice Man. His real name is Victor Fries. He was a scientist who specialized in cryo technology and get this; he was a __Cryogenicist __at Gothcorp whose employer was no other than Mr. Ferris Boyle."_

"And the Penguin?"

_"Oswald Cobblepot. A underground crime boss who's been in and out of Blackgate Prison in Gotham before transferring to Arkham Asylum, an institution for the Criminal Insane. Has several warrant arrests on his sheet for illegal gambling, racketeering, arms smuggling and murderer."_

"Good work, I'm heading to Orchid Bay. One of the men who attacked the ball said they were supposed to meet an arms dealer. I'll tell you more once I've interrogated the dealer." He ended the call and went to the back exit to pick up his gear.

* * *

_"__You're almost to Orchid Bay. I hope Penguin's dealer can tell you more about what Freeze has done to Ferris._" Barb said as they were in the Impala, driving through Starling City in high speed breaking every rule in traffic book. They smuggled Jericho's Car on a cargo plane when they've arrived in Starling City. why

"Targeting someone like Ferris Boyle? It's sickening." Batman sneered,

"No need to worry about that. We'll seal this case and wheel it to Blackgate on a gurney." Jericho stated as they arrived at their destination. They were now in Orchid Bay area, downtown of Starling City and where the City Hall was located. It's perfect ideal place for any illegal operations because there aren't many crimes committed here. They grappled on a ledge of a building once they stepped out and walked across the rooftop to see if the Penguin's dealer was there and Unfortunately he wasn't. However though they saw a police officer that was frozen in place, he must've spotted the Arms Dealer before he froze by the cryo gun. Jumping off the building they walked over to the officer.

_"__Finding penguin's dealer is the key to finding Freeze. I should scan this area to see where he went." _Batman thought as he switched his cowl into detective mode and set up a scene. He scanned the officer first, showing that he was put into cryostasis by some unknown substance that are shutting his system down slowly. He scanned some evidence and a reenactment of what happened to the officer was being displayed. The officer chanced upon Penguin's men when he found them and wasn't equipped to deal with the cryogun. But the cryogun was leaking, though. He walked over to where the arm's dealer was and scanned the pool of cold fluid on the ground. if they hurry, they can follow the trail to that Arm's dealer.

_"_Oracle, we got a trail on the arm's dealer." He stated, nudging Talia and Jericho to get back into the Impala.

"_Great. Anything else?"_

"Yes. Penguin's men is using cryogenic weapons to encase innocent people in ice. We're going to need the thermal gloves in our XE Suits to break them free." Batman informed,_  
_

"_I was hoping you would say that, Bruce. I'll get Alfred to load it into drop containers when I call him. I'll keep you posted."_ Oracle responded, the trail stopped at an alley in central Orchid Bay where they spotted the Arms Dealer talking to one of his men of how Cryo Gun works.

"It's like any other gun. Cept instead killing a guy, you're gonna freeze'em solid." The arms Dealer explained

"How does it work?"

"Like this." Jericho cut him off as he came out of the nowhere and knocked the guy out cold with an inverted DDT.

"Get the son of a bitch!" the arms Dealer commanded, Jericho blocked the front kick and went for a single leg takedown. He dislocated the leg in two before catching a fist . He twisted his wrist making him kneel in pain before kneeing his face. One of the men produced a hand gun and when he was about to pull the trigger, batarang swinging and knocked the gun off. He turned around to see a foot colliding to his face from Batman while Talia took care of the guy with the cryo gun. When they were taken care of, they interrogated the arms dealer. Jericho held the dealer up by the throat as Batman questioned him

"Where's Freeze?!" Batman demanded,

"You think I know?" The Dealer croaked,

"You plan on spend the new year in traction?" he threatened,

"Okay! Okay!" he conceded, "He made a deal with Penguin- Weapons in exchange for some stiff... Uh, Ferris Boyle. He's in Gothcorp last I saw."

"You're lying. Gothcorp doesn't make weapons!" Batman frowned, narrowing his eyes.

"What! No!" the dealer uttered, "Gothcorp! I swear! Look,I've got the entry codes."

"We'll take those." Jericho said as he knocked the dealer with his forearm. He downloaded the codes into his encryption app on his cellphone and sended them to Batman's cryptographic sequencer

"Gothcorp making weapons tech? It doesn't make sense. There's got to be more to this." Batman wondered,

"Yep." Jericho replied, calling the Impala remotely, a few minutes later the Impala arrived at the alley, they got into the car and drove off to GothCorp building. Jericho knew that Kissup Boyle was up to no good, but what was in Gothcorp? They got more questions than answers at the moment.

As they left the alley, Oliver Queen also known as The Hood was on the rooftop of a building having to watch the Son of Demon Jericho, Batman and Talia interrogating the Arms Dealer. For the second time tonight, the experienced vigilantes beat him to the punch but now he knows where Freeze and Penguin is taking Mr. Boyle. Gothcorp.

* * *

They arrived on the north of Gothcorp buliding and the first thing they saw, was three Penguin henchmen and two of them had Cryoguns when they stepped out of the Impala. Great, more of them armed with cryotech weapons. However when they were planning how to approach, two arrows hit the cryotanks, a third arrow hit the ground this time with a line ,the Hood came gilding on a line and dropkicked he two of them. He displayed his martial arts skills where he took out the men in matter of minutes. Impressive but a bit flawed.

"Well, you saved us the effort to get rid of the idiots." Jericho said as they stepped out of their hiding spots and walked over to the door where Batman used cryptographic sequencer to open the panel with the entry codes. He unlocked the door allowing them to get inside Gothcorp. They saw from a distance Freeze and Penguin going through the door to a Gothcorp section while his men beat up the guards to make sure that they wouldn't run into trouble up top of the lobby.

"If this goes sideaways, you come runnin'." Penguin said,

"Sure thing boss." One of his men obeyed, not wanting to be on his bad side, Penguin went to catch up with Freeze who has Boyle with him. The Hood fired two arrows, they hit the two men that were armed in the shoulders. Batman grappled on the ledge to the balcony and took out the third one.

After securing the guards that was taken hostage, they told the heroes that Freeze and Penguin was taking Boyle to Propellant Research Wing also informed that Penguin's men had been raiding the entire buliding. Jericho questioned them if they have security codes to the security door. They said that they don't have it but their security boss does and is being held up in the Organics Lab through the lobby. They headed to the organics lab and was entering the organic labs entry when they saw the entrance to the labs that was frozen soild and had a ice formation, they had to take a different route via the wall shaft. They crawled through the shaft to another room where more Penguin's men was at. Jericho broke through the shaft to take out the thug nearby. The Hood fired an arrow to the armed henchmen piercing through the cryotank. It exploded, the cold Liquid froze the henchmen.

After the disposal, they went through the door to the organic labs and were alerted when they saw three snipers on each corner along with armed men watching the ground. Batman turned on the detective vision under his cowl to see how many

"How many are there?" The Hood asked, putting his bow away.

"8. 9 included with the guard." Batman informed, "Some of them are wearing thermal imaging headset. Anyone wearing them will be able to spot us hiding in the darkness."

"Well, we better make sure that we don't get caught the, do we?" Jericho said, "Because I rather not spend the new years in ice." They spread out in different directions once they formulated a plan. Jericho went to take out the snipers at each corner, getting rid of the big threats while Batman took care of the ones wearing thermal headsets. Arrow put another men in reversed facelock, cutting off oxygen. It was the man who held the head of the security captive Once he felt the man slipping into unconsciousness, he let him go and escorted the head of security to safety. Talia took out the remaining henchmen and joined the others with the head of the security.

"T-Thank you." He stammered, expressing gratitude for their rescue.

"You have the codes so we can access to the Propellant Research Wing."

"Right, here." He handed them the access codes, "You're gonna save mister Boyle, right?"

"You're not safe inside. You need to get the hell out of here."

"No problem." The guard replied, they left the labs heading back to the lobby. When they were half way to the lobby, Barb came online with update about XE Suits.

Jericho tapped into the earpiece to intercept the call.

_"Alfred just loaded XE Suits into the drop containers. It's on its way to Starling city."_ She stated

"Good, because we just encountered some heavy ice formations. it's slowing down process." Jericho reported

_"His name is Alfred, not Miracle Worker, honey. Anyhow, I got just a call from my Dad. Nora Fries was reported missing from Gotham General."_

"When was this reported?" Jericho asked, as they went to the door that was now frozen shut.

_"__Three days ago."_ She answered quickly: then she discovered something intriguing on the police report._ "Huh. This is interesting." _

"What?" Jericho asked,

_"__I've looked into the police report, this was filed on December 28. Does it ring a bell for you?"  
_

"Yeah it does. It was the day that Wayne Foundation announced that Ferris Boyle was named the Humanitarian of the Year who was at the time employer of one Victor Fries." He revealed

_"As in Mr Freeze_?" she asked,

"If the shoe fits." He shrugged, "If this is about a disgruntled employee out for revenge, then there's more to it than stealing weapons." this was getting confusing by the minute. If he doesn't get answers now, his head would probably explode, "Hack into Gothcorp's data archives. There must be a reason why Fries hates Boyle this much. Jericho out."

He ended the call as The Hood fired an explosive arrow on the frozen door. it blew the door away, making a huge hole. They stepped through the hole and the first thing they did was to evade Ice Blasts from one of three armed henchmen.

"Oh great. More of them." Jericho muttered,

* * *

_What you're doing here?" Jericho asked, he spotted Sara watching the sunrise outside of gates of League of Assassins Headquarters. She was soaking the sun enjoying _

_"__Just enjoying the sunrise." She replied, turning her head to see him, Jericho looked at her with a eyebrow raised, as if there was an alternate motive. _

_"__Really? Is that why you're here?" he questioned, Sara heard the skeptic tone in his voice._

_"__Well, I had to get away from Talia." She admitted, "Don't take it the wrong way, I'm grateful for what your family has done for me but it's nice to be alone every once in time."_

_"__No argument from me.." he replied, "Well, I suppose I'll leave you alone then." He went back inside but Sara stopped him with a question._

_"__Does it get easy?" Sara asked_

_"__What?" Jericho inquired_

_"__With what you do?" she clarified the question,  
_

_"Not really quite honest. You win some; you lose some. You wonder to yourself sometimes what you've might done different. But at the end of day, you just have to accept it and learn from it, to make sure that doesn't happen again.." _

_"__The casualties of war." She pointed out, Jericho nodded in confirmation._

* * *

"_Alert. Unauthorized access at_ _Propellant Research Wing detected."_ They heard the alarm in lobby following the surprise attack by Penguin's men that were subdued. That can only mean one thing; Freeze and The Penguin are there with Ferris. They went to the fueling Prep corridor which was the only way to the Propellant research Lab. The door was solid so they had to go through a trapdoor. As they went further into the wing, the temperature got colder making their suits frosty.

"Cold." Jericho declared letting out an icy breath as they shimmed across the ledge in a room. he pulled out a Batclaw to rip off the panel on the wall, granting the others to gain access to climb through the shaft into the next

_"I've been digging into Gothcorp's data Archives to look into the Ferris-Freeze issue. Turns out that Ferris hired Fries for help in the advance cryoweapons program and in exchange, he agreed to devote Gothcorp's research to help him find a cure for Nora's Huntington's." _Barbara replied,

"Then what?" Jericho promoted her to continue as he charged the mechanism with his shock gloves, they dropped to a large vent seeing a panel to a shaft. Batman ripped it away and they crawled out

_"I've hacked into Boyle's personal notes and i found out that a few weeks later, he froze the fundings, due to a three million debt that he and the board couldn't just ignore it."_

"Sounded more like he had a change of heart." He concluded, "Fries didn't like when Ferris backed out."

_"So he decided to steal some of the Gothcorp equipment and do the Huntington's research himself."_

"Exactly." he confirmed, it did answer some of the questions that was on his mind but there was a lot more that was yet to be addressed.

They eventually ended up on the catwalk of the lab; they saw what appeared to an disagreement between Penguin who was holding Ferris Boyle hostage while his henchmen was firing at Freeze keeping the once brilliant scientist at bay. This supposed arrangement had gone up in smoke apparently.

"Give me Boyle or I'll freeze this entire room!" Freeze demanded,

"I know you won't." Penguin replied, "Boyle got the codes you need an' I ain't giving 'im up less I get what's he givin' ya." Not waiting to see this play out, they ran over to the end of catwalk and jumped down, interrupting the heated argument.

"You again!" Penguin exclaimed aggravated as he fired bullets, the group of vigilantes avoided the bullets while fighting off henchmen. Seizing the opportunity, Freeze fired a ice blast from his cryo gun freezing the crime boss, his men and CEO of Gothcorp.

He then pulled out Boyle and stared at the man whose black heart caused him his life.

"Now you belong to me." He stated,

"We'll give you a chance to let him go." The Hood threatened.

"Threats are meaningless to a man who've lost everything." Freeze brushed off the threat and blasted from his cryoweapon at a reactor. It caused a chemical cocktail, creating a huge ice barricade between the vigilantes immobilizing Penguin along with some henchmen.

"God damnit!" Jericho cursed as Freeze took off with Boyle.

* * *

**Ta Da! Chapter 2 is complete. I'm working on Chapter 3, Review once you're done with chapter 2.**

**Also i'm dropping previews of what's to come of this story. here's one from Chapter 3.**

_"Oi, Arrow Boy! " The Hood turned his head around to see what Penguin's up to. "Do you have a price, yeah? Name it. it's yours if you get me out a'this bloody ice brick."_

"_You're good where you are." He sneered, denying the potential bribe from this dwarf, he's rotten apple as they say._

_"But. You can't leaving me here. I'll freeze to death." Penguin stammered horrified at the situation he was in.  
_

_"Not my problem." The Hood said,  
_

_"Oh, you're a cold hearted bastard, you know that?" Penguin spat glowering at the hooded vigilante._


	4. Nora

Chapter 3

Nora

**AN: Hey guys, here's another chapter. I just came off celebrating my 21st birthday, so happy belated birthday to me. Make sure you review this once you're done.**

"Take a seat..._Humanitarian_." Roger Craig Smith as Batman in Arkham Origins DLC: Cold Cold Heart

* * *

"This is your fault. You get me out a'this!" Penguin demanded pissed at the vigilantes for letting Freeze get away with Ferris who has the codes to the superweapon. But they cared less for his whining and moaning like a little baby, right now they want to know what is Freeze after and why does he need Ferris.

"Why does he need Boyle? What's he looking for?" he questioned,

"Boyle's got codes he needs to access some kind a'superweapon." Penguin replied "And now you let 'em have it!"

"That ice is the only thing protecting you from the asskick 3 on1 lesson, walrus." Jericho said, preventing an eye roll at the accusation.

"Yeah yeah, yeah." Penguin retorted with a sour look, "Look- You want to save our friend mister Boyle, yeah? But you'll never break through this ice. Gothcorp has a device. It's uh like a drill… a cryodrill."

"Tell us where it is." Jericho said, as much as he hated to admit it, Penguin's got a point, the ice wall is the only the thing between Freeze and them, so Penguin better tell the location of the cryodrill now or otherwise, he's in trouble.

"I had my men to bring our uh… acquisitions to the Poison nightclub." Penguin explained, "For safekeepin' of course."

"Then you better hope your men is still at Poison." He said, taking off in hurry while Batman and Talia followed pursuit. They better get to Poison now his men decides to relocate.

"Oi, Arrow Boy!" The Hood turned his head around to see what Penguin's up to. He probably wanted to bribe since he's the less experienced "Do you have a price, yeah? Name it. it's yours if you get me out a'this bloody ice brick."

"You're good where you are." He sneered, denying the bribe from this dwarf, he's rotten apple as they say. Power-hungry criminals are the worst of the worst.

"But. You can't leaving me here. I'll freeze to death." Penguin stammered horrified at the situation he was in.

"Not my problem." The Hood declared,

"Oh, you're a cold hearted bastard, you know that?" he spat glowering at the hooded vigilante,

"So have I heard." The Hood responded as he went to catch up with them.

* * *

They burst through the door of Gothcorp and headed to the Impala with purpose. The Hood was about to leave on his own when Jericho called his name.

"Hey, man. There's a free seat for you if you'd like. Saves you the long road." The Hood was contemplating wherever he was going to take on that offer. Something told him to do it, trust him. If Sara trust Jericho, then he should do the same. He went in the backseat with Batman while Talia was in the front with her brother As they drove off to the city.

"Oracle, what's the status of XE Suits?"

_"It just arrived in Starling City. Tell me the location so that I can initate the drop."_ Oracle replied quickly,

"Have it drop at a night club called Verdant. It's a secure drop zone." The Hood said,

_"Was that…"_

"Yep, you heard him. Once we put on the XE Suits, we're heading to poison night club to recover a cryodrill from Gothcorp." Jericho said,

_"__Understood."_

* * *

Felicity was currently digging through Gothcorp's records to see if there was any connection between the Humanitarian of The Year and his former employee at Arrow cave as she called it underneath the Verdant nightclub when she heard an aircraft gliding past the nightclub above followed by a thump.

"Did you hear that?" she asked, hoping that Dig picked up aswell and to her luck, he did.

"I did. Better check it out." Dig and Felicity walked up the stairs and left the cave, they went outside of this cold winter night to see three sets of containers not far from the club.

"What the hell?" he murmured; approaching with caution. Judging by the appearance, they must be military based at best. He inspected one of the containers kneeling on the snow coated ground. He saw what looked like a hand scanner. Deciding to test if his hand fits, he placed his hand on the scanner and he recicved a electric shock for his efforts.

"Son of a…" he grumbled wincing back, it must be some kind of a security measure.

Just then a car, impala to be exact pulled up on the driveway and out stepped four people.

Diggle and Felicity turned around to see The Hood, Batman (Who they learned from Oliver earlier tonight) and the infamous Al Ghuls. Jericho and Talia.

Felicity's eyes widened in shock as she saw Jericho. He's here in Starling City? her thoughts were running rapid by now, "_Oh my god. Oh my God. Oh my God. It's really him. How do I look? Is my hair to tight? Do my clothes fit? Is my shoes comfortable Look at me rambling, which should end in 3. 2. 1."_

"Well, if isn't the lovely Felicity Smoak. Got to admit, for IT girl you're certainly alluring than most of them." he went to kiss her hand that caused her cheeks to turn a deep red.

"Thanks. I think." She acknowledged, Jericho went to his container and put his hand along with Batman and Talia on the scanners. The containers opened to reveal three sets of combat suits built to reek fear into hearts of the criminals.

Holy…" Felicity whisper in awe as she took a closer look. It is so like from Iron Man movies. Scrub that it's even better than Iron Man and Transformers combined.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the Extreme Environment suits." Jericho announced while putting his suit on.

"I gotta get me one of those." Diggle declared,

* * *

_"You ready, Felicity?" Diggle asked as they were about start their combat training. He was in his workout clothing while Felicity was in her sports bra and training shorts wrapping her hands in tape. She took a deep breath before she nodded._

_"Yeah." she took a fighting stance that resembled a wolverine with clenched fists, arms spreading out a bit and a weak attempt of a mean face._  
_Diggle chuckled at her stance, it was obvious what she was trying to copy from, "Trying to copy your idol?"_

_"No. This is me trying release the animal in me." She defended, "Come on."_

_"Alright, whatever you say, lionheart." He joked, then said quietly, "She's got it bad." what he meant was for the past few days she started to fascinate Jericho by asking Sara about him. Diggle wondered if this was a way of moving on from Barry Allen who's in a coma due to a lab accident back in Coast City. She hadn't talked much about it since she came back. It's uncertain that she really wants to talk about her infatuation although it's very unlikely that she will admit it because she would deny all day long._

* * *

"Well, this feels really awesome." Jericho commented admiring the new suit he's put on, he parked the Impala within the perimeter of Poison Nightclub. Despite its bulk, he didn't feel heavy at all, he can thank the honey comb structure designed to protect from extreme cold with out increasing weight. During the travel, The Hood told them that Poison was owned by Max Fuller and that the club's a hot spot for the any criminal activity so it wouldn't be a surprise if Penguin's men crashed the party.

"Well don't get too comfortable. Even though it's been ready for deployment, it still hasn't been tested out on field." Batman replied as they stepped out of the and walked towards the entrance. It was frozen shut. Looks like Penguin's Intel were solid. He used his thermo gloves to heat up the ice and when it was weak through, he smashed the ice to pieces.

They entered Poison and saw Penguin's men harassing some of the guest there.

Batman used a thermo charged batarang to break a barrier of ice above them. It came crashing down on them separating the hostages from the henchmen. Jericho, Batman and the Hood went to fight the henchmen whom one of them was armed with a cryoweapon. Talia managed to sneak past them unnoticed and went to the manager's office. She picked the lock and opened the door up to see Ricky Loose Lip's Leblanc taking a drink and a man she presumed Mr Fuller frozen solid in refrigerating ice.

"C'mon, man. I'm freezing." He pleaded,

"Well, you should've thought of that when you decided to pick up a fight that you knew you wouldn' win. In fact you should invest better bodyguards" Loose Lips wasn't going to listen to the man pleads. He's just sitting there and enjoys his drink.

"But. I'm- I'm freezing." he stammered,

"Quit whinin'. Atleast your drink is cold." He said, not caring the slightest, Talia grabbed his arm for arm drag and pressed her foot on his throat for interrogation.

"Hello, Richard. Pleased to see you." Talia greeted while keeping a steady foot on Loose lip's throat. Her voice sounded more robotic due to her XE Suit that was a bulky version of her outfit. "You stole a cryogenic drill from Gothcorp." She went down to business quickly.

"Well, yeah. But… it ain't here. Penguin said to sell out the parts. It's in pieces." He croaked,

"Where are they?" she sneered,

"I'll tell ya, I'll tell ya." he pulled out a note from his pocket in a hurry, Talia snatched it away from Loose Lips " Just… don't drop me off a roof, ok?"

"Perhaps next time." She stomped his face, putting him into sleep. She used her cellphone to scan the note that contained the locations of the cryodrill parts She went on to break Fuller free from the ice. She didn't stay for gratitude from the as she exited the office and joined the men securing the hostage

"I got locations of the cryodrill. We cover more ground if we split up."

"Agreed. Here." Batman handed the hood an earpiece, "You'll get in contact with Oracle, our Information Broker and us. it's a wireless relay system, slaved to the communicator. And if you're tempted to track us with it, don't bother. Signals are locked with quadruple cryptology, bounced through dozen different satellites."

* * *

"So, Hood tell me about how you know about my reputation?" Jericho asked as they were on the location of one of the cryodrill's components. They were concealing themselves behind a beaten up brick wall from armed henchmen.

"I saw you on Live TV from Blackgate on Christmas. And we have a mutual friend who told me all about you." He replied loud enough for both of vigilantes to hear

"And who might be?" Jericho inquired

"Sara Lance." He replied

He chuckled, shaking his head, Sara must've gone home for a quick visit and told Oliver about Jericho. "I should've known."

"She spoke very highly of you and Talia, like you were the royal family." he added,

"That we are." Jericho confirmed, The Hood wasn't wrong about that part. With the amount of wealth that his family inherited over 600 years; they were undoubtedly rich.

"She also told me that you left after an incident in Russia. Care to tell why?"

"Maybe later when we put those to sleep." Jericho pulled out his disruptor disabling the armed henchmen. The Hood fired two arrows, all on target. They jumped over the wall and went to the case that contained one of the components to the cryodrill. They retrieved the component.

"Batman, you there?" The Hood asked into his earpiece, "We just recovered the first component. Did you regain the second?"

_"Yes. We're on our way to Gothcorp right now. But it requires some kind of superconducting fluid to operate."_ Batman replied,

_"Let me search through the database._" Oracle offered, "And _here it is. It's a organic super coolant used in an experimental lab run by one Victor Fries."_

"As in Mr. Freeze?" The Hood asked,

_"It's too big to think as a coincidence, so yeah._" Oracle confirmed, _"It says here that Ferris had his lab shut down, some sort of accident."_

"Is there a security office in Gothcorp?"

_"It's on the 15th floor, just right below the IT Department."_

"Thanks, Oracle. We're heading back to Gothcorp now."

* * *

"Oracle I'm inside the office." The Hood stated as he was now in the security office on the 15th floor, after taking the elevator shaft, Jericho, Batman and Talia was heading to the Organic's Lab to find a supercoolant for the cryodrill. "What I'm looking for exactly?"

_"Try to find Victor's personal file on the file cabinet. There must be some clue to what happened to Freeze in that Lab accident."_

"Affirmative." He responded; he opened one of the drawers that had the letters E-F in the last names.

He paged through the files for a couple of seconds before he found the file of one Victor Fries.

He opened to see an old wedding picture of the former employee and his wife Nora. He learned who she was earlier and by judging photo he can see why he married her. To think that once brilliant scientist had everything that anyone could dream. A well paid job, a loving wife. What went wrong? As he dug deeper into the profile of Freeze, he discovered Nora was struck with a terminal illness named Huntington's chorea. As he was in the middle of profile, a cd unexpectedly fell off the file and landed by his feet. He picked up the cd and examined it. It was a security video.

"Oracle I found a CD It's some kind of a security Video. Better check it out." he put the Cd in a dvd recorder and pressed play on the recorder. It showed Fries in work suit with a lab coat. He was currently running diagnostics on Nora who was in some kind of coma state in some of a freezing chamber, it must be the day of the Lab Accident. Suddenly some was calling out for behind the door.

_"__Open this door! Open it Now!"_

_"No."_ Victor gasped, fearing the worse. The door was blown away by the guards who entered the lab and they were soon joined by Ferris Boyle, he did not look happy.

_"Get away from that equipment!"_ he demanded, He ordered the guards to shut the lab down, something that Victor wasn't going to let them do it that easily.

_"__Stop! This is my experiment!"_ he said,

_"__Your unauthorized experiment."_ Ferris corrected crossing arms with a frown,_ "I ordered funding suspended weeks ago. I'm already 3 million in debt, thanks to you." _This was nothing like the man who was awarded Humanitarian award earlier tonight, he was showing his true colors. An uncaring, self-interested, unsympathetic man that was Ferris Boyle.

_"__You can't stop it now. My wife is in there._" Victor reminded with pleading look

_"__So bring her out." _Ferris Boyle inquired,

_"__You can't interrupt the process now_."

_"__Open it."_ Boyle commanded one of the guards, the guard walked over to the freezing chamber to do just that.

_"__It's her only chance!"_ Victor tried to reason with the CEO but his request was denied by CEO

_"__This is my equipment! _Mine_!" _he stated with a venomous tone in his voice_, "I have every legal right to use it or not use it as I see fit. I say this project ends now!" _in a last ditch effort, Fries grabbed a revolver from one of the guard's holster and aimed at the supposed "Humanitarian" Ferris Boyle. He raised his hand as if he was trying to calm Victor down.

_"__No! Stay away from her, murderer!_" Victor demanded,

_"__Victor, I'm sorry. I lost my temper. It doesn't have to come to this. We can talk." _For a spilt second Fries thought that he meant it lowering his revolver but it was only a false sense of security as Boyle sucker punched Victor, he stumbled back to a table of cryogenic chemicals soaking him with cold liquid.

_"__Get out! Get out!"_ Boyle got out of the dodge with the security guards, Victor's skin was starting to ice blue as his core temperature was and the last thing the camera showed was his hand reaching for Nora as they escaped.

"Dear God." Oliver whispered, it all made sense once the DVD reached the end of recording. There was no super weapon of sorts. Nora was here in Gothcorp. She was kept in the Propellant Research wing and Boyle was the only one who has security codes for Nora's freedom. All this violence, Fries was doing it for his dying wife.

_"__What's going on? Did you find anything useful?"_ Oracle asked,

"I think I did." He responded, taking the DVD and the file with him "I think I know why Freeze abducted Boyle. His wife Nora is being held in the Propellant Research lab."

_"What?! Nora's here in Gothcorp!"_ she quizzed shock apparent in her voice

"Yes." He confirmed, "It was never his intention to kill Ferris, he needed Boyle's security access so that he could get Nora out of Gothcorp. I'm going to Contact Officer Lance at SCPD and send him the CD."

"I'll inform Batman and the others about this." She stated, "What was it on the CD by the way?"

"The truth." He exited the office and went to call Lance about the evidence he gathered against Boyle.

* * *

By the time she told them about their new development, every question that Jericho had was answered as everything fell into place, he got the whole story. Victor initially agreed to help Boyle with the advance Cryogenic Weapons program so that he could be suppled with limitless resources from Gothcorp for Nora's Huntingtons. But when Fries realized Boyle wasn't going to hold up his end of the deal, he decided to do the Huntington's research himself. Boyle didn't like that when he found out about the three million debt; so he confronted Fries. There was a struggle, which resulted Victor being drenched in a pool of cryogenic chemicals. Boyle and his guards escaped, and he put the lab under quarterine. Victor had somehow survived but it wasn't without any side effects. His core temperature had sunk into sub zero and he knew that leaving the lab would kill him. so he built a suit to keep his body temperature cool. All caused by Ferris Boyle. After that Jericho went to the Organics Lab to recover a supercoolant fluid for the Cryodrill. He found it in one of the labs.

_"So, You're still going to need the gurney?" _Oracle asked

"Yeah, but for not Victor." Jericho replied,

* * *

Once he had the supercoolant, Jericho, Batman and Talia headed back to the Propellant Research Wing and surprisingly Penguin was still there, stuck in the ice wall.

"You took your bloody time, your tossers. I'm freezin' to death!" Penguin exclaimed, "Did you get the cryodrill?"

"Yep, but we're not going to use it to save your sorry ass, walrus." Jericho replied,

"Oh you've come back to gloat, 'ave ya?" he remarked, "Oh, I'll 'ang ya with that bloody coat, you 'ear me!" Jericho punched him in face, breaking his nose before using the cryodrill to break through the ice. Once the cryodrill blasted a hole through the ice, they could go through to the Cryogenic testing Facility via testing secure entry. Jericho ripped open panel and crawled through the ventilation shaft to the Cryogenic testing Facility where Boyle had his lower body frozen stiff and his right arm was attached to one of the chambers while Freeze was waiting patiently for him to give up the code.

Jericho kicked panel open and jumped down as Freeze froze the panel and the ventilation hole, trapping Talia and Batman in there.

"Damnit!" Batman swore,

"Let him go, Victor." Jericho reasoned with his hands raised in surrender, Freeze pointed his cryoweapon at Son of The Demon.

"I'm taking my wife. You can't stop me." He argued,

"I know the truth and so will the police. Boyle will face judgment for his crimes." Jericho stated,

"It… It was accident. You don't know what you're talking about!" he tried to play the innocent card but Freeze wasn't going to be fooled, he pulled Boyle out of the ice and threw him in one of the cryo tubes next to Nora's. He then blasted ice towards Jericho evading the ice blast just in time.

"Nothing matters, Do you understand? Nothing but my Nora." He pressed a button on a control panel raising the platform that he was on.

"Victor! You've endangered lives all over the city! Nora would've never wanted this!" he pointed out

"No." Fries admitted deflated, walking over to the chamber placing his hand on the glass. Jericho saw a hint of emotion that freeze claims to be none in his eyes. "What she wants is to live a long life in the warmth of the sun, her hand in mine." His face darkened as his irises show malice and anger, "But because of him, she'll only feel the icy touch of a man whose emotions run as cold as the blood in his veins!"

* * *

Penguin's men came into the facility under orders of Freeze to find Jericho though Jericho went to hide from armed goons. He noticed three control panels on in front of the cryotanks at each corner and a plan was already formulated in his mind.

_"__If I can disable the control panels by the overheating the cryotanks, I can force Freeze to lower the platform without being seen. I have to be fast though." _Jericho thought, he ran towards the railing and used it as a support to jump over the gap to the first cryotank. He activated his thermal gloves to boil the cryotank

_"Warning containment breach in cryotank 1_." The speakers announced, Freeze walked over the platform once he heard the warning and blasted Ice at Jericho who avoided the ice by jumping down to the lower level, _barely_. Jericho ran over to the next corner as he climbed up the ladder and override the control panel on the second tank.

"He's at tank two!" Freeze announced, commanding the men to the second tank whom the cold liquid was becoming warm. The men just missed Jericho who grappled on a gargoyle heading for an early escape.

Just one left, He looked over the last tank and the men who were searching for him.

"Boyle is the real criminal, Jericho. Help me get Nora and no one needs to get hurt." Freeze offered,

"At any other day I would say yes, but not today, Victor!" Jericho shouted as he finished overheating the last cryotank. It forced Freeze to go to Plan B in case the reactors went override. He also lowered the platform down to prevent more containment breaches.

"Let's see how well you do when the air freezes in your lungs." Freeze declared as he released a gust cryovapor, freezing Jericho in place. Luckily the XE Suit was protecting him from the cryovapor with a mouthpiece attached to a oxygen tank on his back. It didn't protect him though from being in ice with the goons. Freeze jumped down from the platform to the lower levels where he laid his eyes on Jericho who used his suit to break free and scrambled away to safety. The ice on the ventilation shaft finally broke as Batman and Talia got out of it.

Freeze heard the ice break and looked up to see them. "Well, it appears we have some more unwanted guests."

He made a mistake by taking his eyes off the ball, as Jericho jumped from above and kicked him in the back and damaged his suit.

"You made a mistake there, Victor!" Jericho criticized as he took off to a safe distance.

"You only anger me, Jericho." Freeze hissed scolding himself for the distraction, looking around to where he was but he was nowhere in sights. An ice formation came crashing down on Freeze. His suit sustained more damage. Batman just sent a batarang from the platform when Freeze wasn't looking. He knew though Freeze wouldn't fall for it again.  
Jericho broke through an ice wall that was formed during the cryovapor, surprising Freeze and damaged his suit once more.

_"__Cryogenic containment failing. Prime subject; Nora Fries in Danger."_. Freeze decided to release another gust of cryovapor and headed back, this time Jericho saw it coming by taking cover in a corner out of sight while Batman and Talia went the other way, Batman broke the ice to the grate underneath Freeze who was working on the console once cryovapor cleared out, Jericho grappled on the ledge and went to Batman

"Ready, Talia?" Batman asked her, she nodded yes in response. They used thermal gloves to break the floor above him, he came down and they did a double team sending him through the window. He was down for. However while they subued down Boyle managed to get out of his imprisonment and disconnected Nora's freezing system in which caused her to slowly defrost from cryostasis.

"Thanks for the heavy lifting." He said in mocking them as he walked towards the console "But you and your girlfriend shouldn't stuck your noses in my business." He sent a burst of cry vapor, Batman pushed Talia and Freeze out of way, scarifying himself as he was concealed in the thick ice. Talia went over the railing but somehow gripped the railing. Thinking that the vigilantes were dead, he took this moment to let it all sink in.

"Here I thought that I was going to have a problem explaining what happened in your lab. I mean, the police are never going to look at me after what you did and with these freaks dead, there won't anyone left to say otherwise." Freeze crawled on his arms trying desperately to save his wife; his suit was critically damaged. If she dies, he will lose the only good thing that has ever happened in his inadequate life. While Boyle was taunting Victor of how he'd failed, Jericho filmed what was taking place, recording the crime in progress and Boyle's true colors. He was busted for sure.

"Did you get everything, Oracle?" Jericho asked,

_"Every minute. Now stop the son of a bitch."_ That was all the motivation he needed, he came out of the shadows and marched over to Boyle who was beating Freeze with a pipe. He ripped the pipe off Boyle who was shocked to see he was still alive.

"Good night, _Humanitarian_." He sneered in disgust before knocking his lights out. He sighed in relief as he went to help Talia back up whereas Batman just broke himself free out of the ice and the first thing he did was to restore cryogenic containment, thus saving Nora's life.

"We're sorry Victor." Jericho expressed his condolences kneeling next to him, "We can't grant you peace." He pulled out the supercoolant and indigested it into Freeze's suit "But we can bring you justice." Jericho followed Freeze's glance towards Nora whose life was secured for the time being.

"Nora." He called softly,

* * *

_"__LT. Pike just confirmed that Gothcorp CEO Ferris Boyle has been taken into police custody. Police reports that Boyle stands accused of manslaughter, extortion, kidnapping and attempted murder. Shocking accusations given last night he accepted the Wayne Foundation's award for Humanitarian of the year."_

Jericho watched Starling City News from a distance as he was set to leave Starling City. After some persuasion, Freeze agreed on a deal with the DA to tell her about the illegal weapon operations that Ferris was running during his employment at Gothcorp so that he could get his sentence minimized and by looking at the evidence SCPD gathered, Ferris Boyle is probably looking to ten or 20 years in prison if he is lucky. Barb was on the phone talking to her Father who was on the way to Starling City to take Freeze back to Blackgate, Arkham Asylum was still under heavy re construction following the 4th of July by the Late Joker. Nora was currently held up at Starling General Hospital, Intensive Care Unit.

So, the way he sees it, the bad guy lost and nobody got hurt. He'll call it a job well done.

He smirked at the thought of it as he was heading back to his hotel room in the Starling City Plaza when he laid his eyes on a blonde woman walking across the street. The smirk faded once he knew who it was, it can't be? she was supposed to be in Tibet or atleast that's what he knew last time he checked.

"You gotta be kiddin' me." Jericho muttered as he followed her, the mysterious woman sensed that she was being followed with a few glances past her shoulder, so she tried to loose her tail but after a few minutes, she realized that her follower was shadowing decided to head to a nearby alley after and hid behind a dumpster preparing an ambush. Jericho glanced over the alley sensing that it could be a trap and it confirmed his gut feeling when the attacker tried to sucker punch him only for Jericho to turn around and caught fist, she used her other fist but he also caught it. He took a good look at her face and a smirk slowly crept up on his face when he recognized the attacker. While the Woman was surprised as she identified her follower but she concealed it while keeping her face emotionless.

"Sara Lance." Jericho said letting go of her fists and adjusted his leather jacket.

"Jericho." Sara drawled,

"You look pretty good… for a corpse." He commented, assessing her for a moment,

"After the Earthquake in the Glades, I've realized that there's no better place like home." Sara told him,

* * *

**And there You have it. The first encounter between Jericho and Sara. what will happen between them? Will there be a confrontation?**  
**Only time will tell.**


	5. Blast From The Past

Chapter 4  
Blast From The Past

* * *

"What you're doing here, Jericho?" Sara asked, why is he here in Starling City? He can't be here to take her back can't he? Talia told her personally that he left the league years back, so what reason does he have to be here? He looked different, he was a bit older, he looked like man who had seen tragedy and gone through hell. She probably guessed that's what Gotham City does to the people. Take the innocent from the people and drive them to the insanity with the corruption and crime. "I haven't heard from you since Russia."

"I saw you across the street. I was just about head back to the Plaza." Jericho replied, "That and a criminal from back home was here in Starling City."

"Huh, did you by any chance to meet Oliver Queen?" she questioned.

"Yeah, I did. And his alter ego as the Hood. Gotta admit though, he sure is making up for the past mistakes." he sounded impressed like he was respecting Oliver.

"Figures." She mumbled,

"Does Nyssa know about this?" Jericho asked, already suspecting that the answer would be a no and his suspicions were confirmed when she looked away, "She doesn't know, does she?"

"No. she does not. Look, I had to go. My sister, my dad and mom lives here, I couldn't stand by and do nothing." she defended her actions,

"I get it, ok." He cut her off as if he understood her reasons, "I would've done the same thing. But still you should've told her. you can't just pack up and leave." he's the last person to judge her considering that he left to restart his life in Gotham. But that didn't give her right to just pack up and leave without telling anyone even though that may sound a bit hypocritical coming from him.

"You know Nyssa. She won't listen. She's committed to the league. She's sworn an allegiance." She argued,

"So have you." He argued back,

"And you." she remarked,

"Touché." He retorted, then sighed rubbing his forehead as he felt a migraine coming, he had a good start to the day but now… he felt a bit deflated "Look, is there some place that we can continue without been arrested?"

She nodded already thinking ahead of Jericho, "Sure. I'm staying with a friend of mine, her apartment is not far from here." They left the alley in the direction her friends apartment. The alley was right around the corner of the apartment. It only took a few minutes to get there.

* * *

They stepped into her friend's apartment; Sara closed the door behind her and locked it. it wasn't too shabby, not exactly 5 star but it was okay.

"Nice place." He noted, walking over to the kitchen and opened the fridge to see if there was any beer because he sure needs it right now. Sara took her jacket off her and hung it up in the hallway.

"Thanks for noticing" She said, entering the living room and checked out her phone to see if there were any messages and there were none but there was a missing call from oliver. she'll call him later.

"Got any beer?" he asked, looking inside the fridge.

"There should be right above your head." she told him, he found a beer behind a milk cart that was next to some take out food.

"Thanks." Jericho closed the fridge and opened the lid; he then sat down on a chair drinking from his beer as he wondered what kind of impact his departure had on the League. That question has always followed him for nearly 6 years. He went to ask Sara about it. "So what happened in the League after I left?"

"It got bad for a while." Sara began as she sat down on a couch. Jericho took a sip from his beer while listening to Sara's, "we took it all hard but Nyssa and Talia took it the hardest, your father was most disappointed in you." Sara shook her head remembering downward spiral of Reynolds with a tsk, "But Paul… he got worse. Started to kill everyone in sight, criminals, politicians, government officials, activists. He was disowned eventually for attracting too much attention."

"Can't say I'm surprised. He always had a violent temper." He grumbled, "What he did do then?"

"He ran them up." She replied,

"Who ran he up?" He questioned,

"I can't tell you." She sighed, Jericho didn't like when he's being kept in the dark of something important and he certainly didn't like it now especially from Sara.

"Sara." He said, bit stern this time.

"I said I can't tell you, alright?" She rose up from the couch and headed for the door not wanting to answer the question but Jericho wasn't going to let her get away that easy. He followed and grabbed her arm determined to know who Paul ran up on.

"Damnit Sara! I need to know." he demanded through his gritted teeth growing impatient and she had it.

"He started to kill our own, Jericho!" she snapped as she pulled her arm away, Jericho went silent once he heard the revelation, "There's gonna be a special place in Hell for the things he did."

"League members?" he questioned, she nodded yes. "Why?"

"Said that the League is nothing more but bunch of murderers and exterminators. That it was for the greater good." she explained.

"And then what?" he quizzed,

"After that, he went underground. No one has heard from him since. I tired to keep tabs on him but it seems that he went off the face of the earth." He breathed out sharply through his nostrils. Just because Paul went underground, doesn't mean that he's up to something devious. They didn't say to each other for some time, it had been a bittersweet reunion between the two former comrades that at one time even considered them respectively as brother and sister.

"I noticed that you have a ring on your finger." She spoke pointing to Jericho's claddagh ring, "You're engaged?"

"Yeah. I am." He answered,

"Good for you. Who's the lucky girl?" she asked,

"Her name's Barbara." he told her,

"Lucky Babs." She declared; he let out a little laugh despite the mood that they were feeling.

"Got that right." he replied, twirling his ring with a quick glance on it.

"What happened in Russia, Jericho?" Sara asked softly, it was Jericho's turn to look away from her, and Sara knew Jericho wasn't going to tell her what happened down there. What had Paul done that caused Jericho to leave the League of Assassins?

"All I can say is Paul shit the bed back there." Jericho admitted,

* * *

Jericho and Sara left the apartment feeling somewhat bitter of their conflict and the conversation afterwards. what's left to say really?

"So when you came back?" Jericho asked, breaking the awkward silence, as he walked down the stairs to the entrance of the apartment building with Sara.

"After I heard about the earthquake." She replied, "I decided to head back to protect my family as Black Canary. Oliver soon found out about my return and eventually my dad learned that I was still alive when AL-Owal showed up and tried to bring me back to your father."

"Really?" Jericho asked, grabbing the door handle "What happened?"

"I killed him." She answered nonchalant, Jericho nodded in acknowledgement, he knew that he should tell her that it was immorally wrong but he never liked AL- Owal anyway. In fact, Al Owal called him a flawed swine that grew up in cesspool. It struck him close to home as he was referring Jericho as a swine and Gotham as cesspool.

"Ok. Then you left realizing that you couldn't stay here anymore, right?" She nodded again in confirmation as they walked through the door entrance and walked the stairs to the sidewalk.

"What changed your mind?" he questioned, Sara was forced to swallow the lump formed in her throat as she headed to tell the part where things got bad since she left.

"My sister, Laurel." She answered keeping her voice steady, hardly. "Her boyfriend was one of the 503 victims in the earthquake. She blamed Oliver for not saving his life but then she started to blame herself. Oliver called me a few days ago that she just lost her job at the DA's office due to her alcoholic abuse and drug use."

"Does she know that you're here?" he asked,

"No, she still don't." she admitted, "She still thinks that I died on the Gambit."

"Want my advice, Sara?" He said,

"Not really." She murmured,

"Help her." he advised, these were the two simple words yet they had a very powerful meaning behind them. Sara knew that he was right, but she was worried of how Laurel would react, given that she's in under belief that Sara died on the Queen's gambit nearly 6 years ago. Add to the fact that her mind isn't exactly well at moment, she'll probably have a shock of her life. No, she will not put her through it. Like ever.

"Sara. If you think running away will, think again." Jericho chided, as if he read her mind. "It only makes it worse. Be there for her. Help her out. Come out of the shadows and get her back on track. "

"She'll blame me for everything wrong in her life when she sees me for the first time in nearly 6 years." She remarked, "It won't be easy."

"Didn't say it was." he said, "I'm just telling you like it is. You know that, right?" she nodded in understanding, even though the expression on the face was telling him otherwise so he grabbed her left shoulder with his hand in an attempt to reassure that she can save her sister. Just because someone stumbles and loses their way, doesn't mean that they're lost forever.

"So, have we fulfilled our care and share quota for the day?" she asked,

"Sure, we're done." Jericho replied, then teased her with a playful grin "Brat."

"Lover boy." She countered,

"Goldielocks." He quipped,

"Womanizer." While they were bickering they went to the park which was out Jericho sat down on a bench viewing it, it was pleasant sight watching parents spending time with their kids, couples whom enjoy their company towards each other. It's shame that it's plagued with criminality and degeneracy.

"It's real nice here. I used to take my canary that my dad bought for my tenth birthday here." She explained as she sat down next to him with her right arm resting on the arm support. "It was a way to relieve some of the migraines he got from the constant squeaking."

"Yeah, I can see why you like this place, Sara. It's real charming." he commented,

"Isn't it?" she inquired with a chuckle, Jericho looked at her with a serious look hoping that the talk would get Sara to get Laurel out of her addiction.

"You're gonna help Laurel, right?" he quipped,

"Yeah. And you're gonna tell me about what went down in Russia when you come back some day." she enquired,

"I will." He promised, "Just not today."

"Sounds good then." Jericho and Sara observed the people at the park in silence of what started as a sour meeting with some tensions turned to making promises to each other.

* * *

_It wasn't supposed to end like this. it was a simple mission, go in, take out the threats, extract information and leave. But because of Paul's recklessness, two innocent people are dead, a little boy and his mother. Dmitri just lost his family and was absolutely distraught. Nyssa and Talia are burying them and the rest were taking care of the dead security guards._

_He felt odd about this; it was affecting him for first time in a very long time. Up until that moment, he was completely fine with the killing if that meant protecting the world. But now, he feels uncertain if he still thinks that way. He wondered what his mother would think of him now. He wouldn't doubt that she would criticize for choosing a cruel way of fighting the problem. She'll always say that there is other ways to fight crime that doesn't necessary require killing. God, he really became lost when she died. When he grew up, he never cared of what people thinks of him He made a decision right there as he tore his mask off and threw his sword away. But he wasn't going to leave this life without a note. He found a piece of paper on a table and a pen with it. He wrote a goodbye letter to Talia and Nyssa, put it on the table once he was done and ran off the mansion not looking back to the city of St. Petersburg._

* * *

"Ra's built Arkham City?" Sara exclaimed in shock, Jericho just finished explaining his incarnation in Super maximum Security prison led by Hugo Strange in Gotham. they just entered Verdant night club and was going to the Cave that was down in the basement.

"Yep, Strange made a deal with dad and ratted me out." he replied,"But when Batman and I stopped him, Daddy dearest killed Strange as a punishment for his failure."

"Wow, I mean I heard about Arkham City but never would I imagine that he was behind all this." She said, still wrapping her mind around "And he had the Mayor of Gotham under his control, right?"

"AH huh" Jericho confirmed, "In fact he was the reason why the former Quincy Sharp reinstated Arkham Asylum and why his mayor campaign was so successful. But right after Strange's death, The City Council soon found about Strange's criminal activity and Sharp's involvement, they were left with no choice but remove Sharp from the Mayor position and the court sentenced him 25 years in Blackgate without the possibility of parole."

"And here I thought Dr. Ivo was crazy." She mumbled as Sara and Jericho headed down the stairs to the Cave where Oliver was doing pushups on a Salmon ladder with Felicity and Diggle watching on.

"He does this all day?" Jericho asked,

"Pretty much." Sara shrugged, Felicity and Diggle turned around to see them walking over to the training ground. Felicity ducked her head away as she became nervous within 10 foot radius, she pushed her glasses back up. "Hi, guys."

"Sara? I thought you left." Dig said bit surprised by her return to Starling City.

"I did. But Oliver called me a few days ago. It was about Laurel." she explained,

"So he told you." Dig stated in understanding, then noticed Jericho for the first time, "Jericho, right?" he wondered if he got the name right and he nodded a yes. At the mention of Jericho's name, Oliver got off the ladder and went to see him.

"I heard Freeze made a deal with DA to reduce his sentence. Nice work." Oliver complimented,

"Well, we don't like taking all the credit." He shrugged, "You did good, for a rich boy."

"Rich boy, huh?" Oliver chuckled, "You know, when Sara told me about you, you sounded like a urban myth than real. But after what I saw last night, you really are the Son of The Demon."

"Aw, I'm flattered." Jericho smirked with a snigger, "But thanks though. Wanna do some sparring?"

"Like now?" he asked, "I thought you were leaving."

"I am. Just not yet." Jericho explained taking his jacket off and tossed on the table. "What do you say, Ollie? You up to it?"

"We'll find out won't we?" he stated as they took their fighting stances ready, the others were very interested in this sparring session especially Sara. "Ready for some serious pain?"

"Bring it, Arrow boy." Jericho motioned him to bring the best out of him and the fight had just begun.

* * *

Dr. Emil Conner was watching the security tapes from Gothcorp observing every movement of the Test subject fighting against the former Gothcorp employee Victor Fries at Cryogenic testing Facility in Gothcorp and he was in awe of how well trained the subject was. how easily he got away from armed henchmen and eliminated the threat. My, my. he is different, Slade was right. But the question is can he finally be the first successor of Project Wolverine? Can he succeed in what other had failed? Dr. Conner certainly hope so.

* * *

**Couple of weeks later**

It was a busy night at the Verdant nightclub for the guests and its staff. Sara was working at the bar filling it in for Roy who apparently is on a vacation. Thea dropped by the bar to see if everything was running smoothly and Sara ensured that it was. She was in the process of making a cocktail when someone called her name out.

"Hi Sara." She looked up to see Jericho in a worn out shirt and a pair of black pants, he held a jacket in his hand. She was surprised to see him like this considering that she hadn't seen him since Nyssa came into town.

"Jericho? Where the hell have you been?" She asked while glancing at Thea who overheard, she mouthed to her boss that he's a friend, she nodded in acknowledgement "You've been missing for three weeks."

"Three weeks huh?" Jericho said, "Felt like months if you ask me. Is there someplace private? I'll explain to you what happened." Thea took her cue to leave, sensing that this was something personal. But she then saw four men in black suits marching towards the bar wearing black. She went to cut their path.

"Can I help you, gentlemen?" she asked, the men ignored her question by pushing her aside as they walked towards the bar. One of the men pulled out a gun from his holster and aimed at Jericho who hung his head in dismay with a groan, he knew that they would come looking for him under the orders of Dr. Conner but he didn't expect to be found this soon. So much for hiding.

"Freeze!" The music was cut off rather abruptly and the party was over.

"Friends of yours?" Sara asked slight worried that they're not the SCPD, Jericho shook his head no confirming her worry. Jericho raised his head and turned around to face them with a scowl featured on his face. He sensed that they won't leave without him so he pulled out his new weapon to make sure that they don't bring him in a body bag or worse.

Snikt! They looked down at the extended metal claws coming out between his knuckles on both of his hands.

"Whoa." Sara whispered in awe, what are they, claws or something? How did he get them? An more importantly, what has he been up to Thea mirrored her face expression once she saw them. How did he get them? Well, it started with a surprise visit from Nyssa Al Ghul.

* * *

_**Gotham City.**_

_"OK, it was very interesting, don't you think?" Jericho commented as he and Barb entered their apartment in fancy clothing, they just came back from a dinner in honor of Commissioner Gordon's work that helped Gotham getting rid of its bad reputation hosted by GCPD._

_"Which part? The one that had Bullock eating the buffet during dad's speech or when he was embarrassing himself by doing the Gangnam style dance?" she asked rhetorically as he helped her up by picking her up bridal style. He then carried her to the master bedroom laughing at the fond memory of him dancing like that singer. Harvey would probably give him "God, Harvey really did outdo himself this time._

_"Yeah, but you gotta admit, for someone who is overweight, he sure know how to dance." he commented, she shook her head in dismay but couldn't help the smile that slipped. Je then left the bedroom for some privacy and headed outside to the balcony where he viewed the city below the balcony._

_"I hope that you had a pleasant evening, Jericho." He turned around to see what that voice came someone who he hadn't seen since Russia._

_"Nyssa." He declared,_

_"Hello brother." Nyssa greeted, flashing a compassionate smile "You look quite well."_

_"So do you." He remarked, still not believing that she's really here, what brings her to Gotham? "What you're doing here?"_

_"Shouldn't I be granted the benefit of doubt?" She inquired, "Can't a sister visit her brother?"_

_"It's been 6 years, Nyssa. Seems the Lazarus Pit agrees with you." Jericho stated, if there's one thing he knows about his big sister, that she's up to something or she has a secret agenda. His best bet is probably both._

_"Time has not tempered your sarcasm, brother." She observed; she looked out to the streets absorbing the feeling that Gotham was radiating at this moment. "It's different. The atmosphere. Gotham has improved as of late. People are feeling more safer here. Corruption is no longer holding the city hostage."_

_"You came all the way here just to say that?" he asked incredulous, _

_"No, I also wanted to tell you that I'm not staying here for very much longer. I'm being followed." She sighed, "I just wanted to see you again. it's been far too long."_

_"Yeah."He said, "If you think of convincing me back to League of Assassins, don't bother. I'm not going back."_

_"Of course not, you made it very clear in your letter." She grumbled, pain flashed in her eyes for a second before it left at the sorrowful reminder of St. Petersburg. "I have no intentions of doing that. it's not why i'm here."_

_"You don't say." he muttered cynically, "Look, I have a good life now. This is who I am. The Jericho you knew died in Russia." And there it was, she heard it from his own mouth that the brother she knew is not the Jericho she knows today. _

_"I know brother." she admitted, little bit hurt although she understood his reasons. "Send Talia my regards." Those were the last words before she left the balcony by climbing up the balcony above them, to rooftop. Jericho sighed as he went back inside his apartment confused of her visit. Although he'll find out the reason why soon and by soon, very soon._

* * *

**AN: I know it isn't exactly a long chapter but it's just a warm up to the things to come in the story. Trust me. below the Author's note is another preview of what will happen later in the story. Peace.**

* * *

_Jericho was lowered down to the water tank, his whole body had been submerged under water and the sharp needles was being filled with the hot liquid of Adamanitum and sunk into the water themselves. They were lined up on different points of his body, three of them were just above his head. Jericho knew in that frightening moment he had just entered hell._

_"Inject." Dr Conner declared,_


End file.
